This invention relates generally to packages of articles such as beverage cans arranged in two or more tiers, and more particularly to such packages having divider panels between tiers of articles. The invention also relates to a method of forming such packages.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/049,787 describes a multiple-tier can package wherein a multiple of beverage cans in two or more tiers are contained in a paperboard carton. According to the application, 24 cans in a package, for example, can be arranged as two tiers of 3.times.4 arrays in vertical alignment. Such a package has a double-height graphic area on its sides as compared to conventional single-tier can packages.
A multiple-tier can package is not without disadvantages. Due to its relatively great height and its multiple-tier structure, the package is more susceptible to crushing force acting diagonally thereof and thus tends to be skewed when undergoing such force. This tendency is more significant in case of a loose package wherein the carton is substantially larger than its contents. Undebossed divider panels which are commonly used in multiple-tier can packages often yield loose packages. Those undebossed paperboard divider panels placed between tiers of cans can cause "shrinking" of the height of the carton contents and thereby create loose packages. Repeated skewing of a carton can further loosen the carton, weakening it and detracting from its appearance.
Another disadvantage exists in the stacking process for cans, in connection with the above-mentioned divider panels. To form, for instance, a two-tier arrangement of multiple cans, an already arranged upper tier of cans is slidingly moved over an already arranged lower tier of cans after a divider panel is placed on top of the lower tier. In this process, the divider panel is frictionally pushed by the upper tier and may be moved out of alignment with or even off of the lower tier.
What is needed, therefore, is a structurally stable or rigid multiple-tier package having a divider panel(s) and a method of forming such a package that provides a solution to the problem of slidingly moving an upper tier of cans over a lower tier while using a divider panel.